11. Fascinated
"Will he bring his owl?"
His parents didn't like having unusual birds hanging around their house so he and Seamus mostly talked on the telephone now. Beth missed Eithne the barred owl terribly.
"Probably not," said Dean. "It's not his owl, it's his family's owl. His mum might need to send a letter." He wanted to add something about how nobody took their pets just to stay with their friends anyway, but he knew for a fact Beth would carry her gerbils everywhere she went if she could.
"Actually, I've been meaning to ask you," said his mother from the other end of the table, "you said that he'd be coming by fireplace?"
"Yeah."
She hesitated. "But wh…what exactly does that mean?"
"It's how they travel," Dean explained. "You put something in the fire, some powder or something, and then you say where you want to go, and you come out of the fireplace there."
"So he'll be coming out of our fireplace?"
"Like in Mary Poppins!" piped up Livy enthusiastically.
"That doesn't seem very clean," said his father, looking skeptical. "Won't soot get everywhere?"
Dean shrugged. "I dunno. It's magic."
His father sighed hopelessly. "Well, if it does make a mess, it's your job to vacuum."
"Do you think he could take us somewhere with the fireplace?" asked Beth.
"I dunno," said Dean, feeling himself grow frustrated. "And don't ask him too many questions, alright? Seamus isn't a zoo animal."
"It's just cool to have a real wizard stay with us," said Sara. Dean rolled his eyes over to her. She was a year away from eleven and waiting on it with bated breath, even though Professor Sprout had told the girls three years ago not to get their hopes up.
"I'm a real wizard," he said.
"Don't use that tone with your sister," said his mother. "You know what she means."
...
His family was quite taken with Seamus. He let Beth's gerbils scramble over his hands, read Livy books and politely answered endless questions about his family. "Don't bother him," snapped Dean when Sara asked if he had to come all the way to London to take the Hogwarts Express, but Seamus shrugged and said he didn't mind.
Dean led him upstairs to his bedroom at night. "I'm sorry about them," he said, once his parents in the kitchen couldn't hear. "My family's so embarrassing."
"It's okay," said Seamus. "I like them." He paused and sheepishly sucked in his lips as they reached the landing. "I like big families."
"That's because you haven't got one," mumbled Dean.
Seamus followed him into his room, setting down his backpack on the floor. "Dunno."
Dean smoothed out his bed covers and pulled them aside, then turned to fish his pajamas out of a drawer. "You can change here, or in the bathroom if you want, I guess."
"Where am I sleeping?" Seamus asked.
"Oh." Dean blinked in surprise. "Oh, er, the bed too, I thought." He cringed at the expression on Seamus's face and hurriedly tried to explain. "That's where we've always had our friends sleep when they stay over, because our house hasn't got that much room, see… But if you don't want—"
"No," said Seamus, "I don't want to be trouble."
"Are you sure—"
"Yeah, Dean," he interrupted, flushing, "just drop it."
"Okay," said Dean.
Seamus eyed the twin bed. "There's room?"
"'Course there's room," Dean replied with a smirk, "you're a midget."
"You watch yourself, mate."
He shook out his pajama shirt and pulled off the one he was wearing, avoiding eye contact. "So where do you usually sleep, when you have sleepovers?" he asked.
Seamus awkwardly looked up at the ceiling. "I've never really had one before."
"Really?"
"Didn't have any wizard friends," he said. "No one around likes Mam very much, because of Dad, and I couldn't have Muggle friends round."
"Oh." Dean quietly buttoned his top. Seamus scoffed softly at the other end of the room, and Dean got the impression he regretted saying anything. "Well, we're going to go to the park tomorrow," he said. "I'll show you where we used to play football."
"Okay."
"And we aren't taking my sisters," he added. "No matter what Mum says."
Seamus smiled. "Sounds alright."
